We had Axford and KRod and a bunch of question marks going into last season and those two had their own warts, there was no quality depth at all. I searched for posts about it going into last year but this is all I could find. viewtopic.php?f=63&t=27699&p=772458&hilit=bullpen#p772458 We lost guys from the 2011 bullpen and just hoped that someone would emerge to replace them but we didn't exactly have a lot of raw talent. Loe, Dillard, Parra, Braddock were all guys I had no faith in and the guys behind them seemed pretty low upside for young bullpen arms. Veras seemed like just a filler arm as well. I figured we would struggle a lot in games that didn't go KRod - Axford and if one of those guys got hurt we would have real problems. The fact they both stunk for much of the year really brought that lack of depth into play. I never understood how people looked at the bullpen as a strength going into last year, I just didn't expect it to be a weakness. It was just a really mediocre bullpen on paper, one that shouldn't blow many saves but should have some problems getting to the 8th inning. Of course we ended up with exactly the opposite problem so what do I know~.